World War I
In World War I Puerto Ricans opened fire, in what is considered to be the first shot of that war on behalf of the United States, on an armed German supply ship trying to force its way out of San Juan Bay. As members of the "Porto Rico Regiment" they were sent to Panama to guard and defend the Panama Canal Zone. In New York, many Puerto Ricans of African descent joined the 396th Infantry Regiment which was mostly composed of African Americans. As members of the 396th Infantry Regiment, also known as the "Harlem Hellfighters," they were not allowed to fight alongside their white counterparts; however, they were permitted to fight as members of a French unit in French uniforms and were awarded the French Croix de guerre. Before the United States entered World War II, Puerto Ricans were already fighting on European soil, not only in the Rif War, but also on both sides of the Spanish Civil War.
Read more about this topic: List Of Puerto Rican Military Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words war i, world and/or war:
“The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone
In the ranks of death you’ll find him,
His father’s sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.”
—Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
“I have often noticed that after I had bestowed on the characters of my novels some treasured item of my past, it would pine away in the artificial world where I had so abruptly placed it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Germany has reduced savagery to a science, and this great war for the victorious peace of justice must go on until the German cancer is cut clean out of the world body.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)